Cabin Fever

Takashi Miike... oh the hoopla about his movies. "Audition" is usually the one that pops up, a romantic horror flick that garnered international acclaim and quite a following in the West too. Takashi is known for his notorious depiction of scenes in his movies, which revolves in extreme violence and sadistic sexual themes which constantly gives censors a huge pain in the ass. Not that i'm complaining, the nature of these sort of films gives a huge rush of blood in the brain and damn i love it.

"Koroshiya 1"(Ichi The Killer) is my first choice in my exploration of Takashi, a 2001 movie based on a manga series by Hideo Yamamoto. I went for this knowing beforehand how the story revolves, in my experience going through a little in the manga. I was enthralled about the character Ichi, the psychotic individual who goes into crying fits and turns homicidal to the max when he's enraged... and this is where a certain detective manipulates Ichi and together they're on a mission to wipe out the Yakuza clans plying their trades around Japan. The highlight here is that Ichi has no idea whatsoever, only thinking he's revenging on those who bullied him in the past.






But what a disappointment it turned out.... halfway through the film, i was feeling groggy really, the story wasn't as cracked up like it was supposed to be. All the comments i read around forums, the reviews from big name movie sites added the fuel of excitement on it... but they weren't true at all. There was even a publicity stunt made at TIFF,where the viewers were given barf bags as it was said that many people puked watching the graphic scenes the movie had, but to me they weren't those scenes you would vomit your 9 o'clock breakfast and your dinner with. The storyline was just mediocre, the hack and slash were nice at times.... they were taken to look cartoonish in purpose, and that was the only decent touch the movie presents.

In saying all this, i do look forward in watching more of Takeshi's work, as i do feel there's some justice still left to prove that he's one of the most creative filmmakers around. Maybe another "Audition" would do the trick...